The Wicked Witch of the East
by Saran VD
Summary: Oneshot. Elphaba reflects on her sisters place in her life after meeting Glinda in the cornfield. Some referances to the book, mostly musical. This is my first fanfic, so PLEASE r&r!


I fly through the air, trying to ignore the tears that are stinging my cheeks. The cyclone, the house, Glinda, Dorothy, the shoes… they're all spinning around in my brain, making me dizzy.

Nessa, please, please forgive me. I never meant to hurt you.

I remember my sister. That's all that's left of her now. Memories…

I remember the first time I saw my sister. She looked so small as she screamed and cried, her little fists beating the air. I was only three, but I remember as if it were yesterday. I smiled at her, and grasped her hand in my childish way. "Nessarose," I said, trying out her name, for I knew that was to be her name. Mother had told me so.

Nessarose stopped screaming and stared at me with her wide blue eyes.

Father saw me and screamed at me for disturbing her and said that she had problems worse than mine and that I would make them worse.

I thought, Problems worse than being green? Man, her life will be miserable…

I was determined to keep it from being that way.

When she was two, Nessa tried to walk. Big mistake. She _did_ have a pretty bad problem: her legs were twisted, and when she tried to stand, she fell on top of one of her toys and started crying.

I never freely gave hugs as a child, yet I cuddled my sister without hesitation.

I remember helping pay for her wheelchair by giving up the little allowance I received. When I first saw her sit in it as a five-year-old she looked so lost and alone, it made me cry.

I was who she went to for help, and I was the one she could admire and talk to, because I was her big sister.

When we were younger, we used to stay up late and just talk. We did most of our bonding under the covers with a flashlight at midnight, where Father wasn't constantly telling me to leave her alone.

I would tell her about Mother, and how she was understanding and caring, so different from Father.

She used to get confused when I told her this. "Father is like that, too," she would say. I didn't agree.

I remember our first big argument. It was on Lurlinemas, and I was mad because I knew Father had given her my presents and put them in Nessa's basket (I never really believed in Lurline). My basket had been nonexistent. Father said that I had been bad that year, but I didn't believe him. For my childish reasons, I was angry with Nessa. Somehow, without ever touching it, I sent her wheelchair flying backwards, and it hit the wall. Hard.

Father was so angry. He took off his belt and started beating me with it.

Nessa was the one to stop him. She had been seven, but Father did whatever she asked him to.

I told her I was sorry, and I meant it.

She said it was okay, and she meant it, too.

I was her best friend, and she was my only friend. I understood her like no one else did; I, too, knew what it was like to be different.

When Father told her she was going to Shiz, she refused to go if I didn't. We both knew she was the favored one by this time. Father said he'd consider it, but warned me not to count on anything.

Nessa and I stayed up together that night, just like we used to as little girls. She asked me to sing Mother's lullaby, which I only remembered from singing my sister to sleep with it every night.

Fin'lly now, it is night,

And I'm asking you to sleep tight

As I sing to you

A sad, sweet lullaby.

And there's things that must be done

With the rising of the sun

My sweet one

Darling, see?

We will see each other,

When the morning light shines through.

We will see each other…

She smiled and said that I sang that better than anyone and asked, "How will I sleep without your lullaby?" She told me she wished that I could go with her. I told her that I doubted it, and told her to go make history without me.

The next morning, Father told me he was sending me to Shiz, too. Nessa and I hugged each other and screamed like little kids.

On the train to school, I got a lot of funny stares. Nessa jumped to my defense with better retorts than I could dream of inventing.

At school, when Horrible Morrible told me that Nessa was rooming with her, I exploded. I magically made her wheelchair come back towards me. I apologized, because I knew she was scared, but Morrible shut me up. _I_ roomed with "_GA_linda Upland of the Upperuplands", and I _hated_ her.

When Fiyero first showed up at Shiz, Nessa was the only one I could complain to… or so I thought. When she told me she was going to the dance with Boq, I was crushed. After that, we just kind of grew apart.

When I went into hiding, Nessa moved to the top of my priority list again. After about two years, I couldn't stand it anymore. I had to see Nessa again.

She was so mad at me. I tried to apologize, but I had cut too deep of wounds to be healed by a single word.

When Boq broke her heart and she removed it, she begged me to some him. "Save him, please!" she said, "Save my love!" I couldn't refuse.

When I had the vision of the house, my mind immediately jumped to Nessa. When I saw her bare feet sticking out from under the house, I was _devastrated_. I wanted to cry, and shout, and get revenge, but I couldn't. I was too sad to grieve.

When Fiyero risked his life to help me get away, I realized that _I_ have to save him. I have to save my love.

It's what Nessa would've wanted.


End file.
